motor mount install

[smos1]

96 B4V, recently had a timing belt fail, a piston was cracked so I am in the middle of swapping in an AFN motor from Frans.
the install went very smooth, a long 12 hour day with LOTS of help from member Annieness, but ...... with engine in place, the front motor mount is not situated as it needs to be. The engine seems to be tilted back, I haven't explored too much further, other than loosening engine mount bolts and putting the old front engine mount back in. I have installed all new engine mounts.

 

[RIP TDI]

Is the center shaft of the mount is not going through the hole in the subframe cup?

 

[smos1]

there's a bolt which mounts through the top that obviously bolts the mount to the engine...and an allen head bolt through the bottom which holds a metal plate on. Neither of them are interfering with the mount setting into the cup.
I had a new engine mount in, which I took out and put the old one back in to see if it made a difference....it didn't
There feels like something is holding the engine from falling forward on to that front engine mount. Which there isn't.

 

[RIP TDI]

The bottom allen bolt threads into the center shaft. When you lower the engine into place correctly, the center shaft must protrude through the hole in the bottom of the subframe cup for the engine to sit normally. What's happening is the mount is not centered in the subframe cup which causes the center shaft to hit the bottom of the cup and stop instead of dropping through the hole, resulting in the mount sitting up high without compressing the upper rubber.

When installing it, move it around laterally so that it is roughly centered in the cup, which will allow the shaft to drop through the hole, then the upper rubber will compress and the engine will sit normally.

 

[smos1]

the shaft is centered (see photo), unless I'm not seeing something. It isn't a complicated process, should just drop in.
It's almost as if the mount is too tall, or doesn't compress enough. But the old mount (which isn't that old) did the exact same thing.

 

[ToddA1]

Wait a minute....

Do you have both rubber parts sitting in the mount recess? The shorter solid part is supposed to be under the crossmember.

-Todd

 

[smos1]

lol...I suppose that would make the difference then. I can't remember if it was that way when I took the other mount out.